A Delaware grand jury has indicted William Stevenson, 77, on one count of second-degree murder over the death of his wife, Linda Stevenson, 64, according to police in New Castle County.
Linda Stevenson was found dead at the couple’s home in Oak Hill, Delaware, outside Wilmington, on December 28, shortly after 11pm, following a reported domestic disturbance.
Police said officers responded to the call and discovered Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room. Despite efforts by first responders to administer life-saving measures, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her body was subsequently transferred to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. Authorities have not yet released specific details surrounding the killing.
Police confirmed that the indictment, returned on Monday, followed an extensive investigation lasting several weeks.
William Stevenson was not named as a suspect in the initial police statement issued at the time of his wife’s death. However, following his arraignment on Tuesday, he was ordered to be held at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $500,000 cash bail.
Stevenson was previously married to Jill Tracy Jacobs, now Jill Biden, whom he wed in 1970 when he was 23 and she was 18. The couple divorced five years later. Jill Biden went on to marry Joe Biden in 1977, during his tenure as a US senator.
The former first lady has not publicly commented on the charge against her ex-husband.
In a 2020 interview with Inside Edition, Stevenson alleged personal betrayal, saying, “I was betrayed by the Bidens. Joe was my friend. Jill was my wife.”
He previously said he met Jill Biden in August 1969 on a beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, adding that he married her six months later.
Jill Biden reflected briefly on her first marriage in her 2019 memoir, Where the Light Enters, describing it as a relationship she once believed was destined, but later viewed as a youthful mistake.
The case remains under investigation as legal proceedings continue.
